Biomass and its application for energy generation could play a significant role in Indonesia’s renewable energy leadership strategy. This is especially true as the country’s is set to take the presidency of the G20 in 2022.
On July 23, 2021, the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MoEMR) announced the country’s plan to make the co-firing of biomass in power plants mandatory. The plan is part of Indonesia’s effort to phase out coal-powered plants, which accounts for more than 60% of the country's electricity supplies.
The mandatory co-firing of biomass, while still in draft form, is said to be applicable to both the state-owned energy company PT PLN as well as Independent Power Producers (IPP). The Ministry has yet to announce further details, including the timing and the ratio of biomass used in co-firing, but PT PLN estimates that it could replace 9 million tons of coal per year with biomass. It also coincides with the country’s plan to retire 53 GW worth of coal power plants from 2025 to 2045 which, if sustainable replacements were to be successfully developed by this period, would be a massive boon for the fight against climate change.
Nevertheless, the plan to make co-firing of biomass mandatory prompts critical examination. Organization such as the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis noted that the plan would require nothing less than the creation of a large-scale biomass industry – something that is a long way from becoming a reality in Indonesia. This is because the co-firing of biomass is an expensive endeavor. Establishing a stable feedstock as well as the lack of technological know-how will present significant challenges. Furthermore, Indonesia continues to twiddle its thumb on introducing any policy incentives for biomass co-firing.
This is a missed opportunity as Indonesia’s potential for biomass and its application in energy generation is significant. Estimated to be at 50GW, the country produces approximately 140 million tons of biomass per year throughout the archipelago. Biomass sources include municipal and industrial wastes, including palm kernel shells, empty fruit bunches and fiber from palm oil mills. The paper and pulp industry also generates waste compatible with biomass processing technologies.
For its part, the country has issued a general guideline to achieving net zero emission. The document, titled Long-Term Strategy on Low Carbon and Climate Resilience 2050 (LTS-LCCR 2050), takes into account the country’s growing economic condition, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The document cites the agriculture, forestry, land usage and energy sectors as the key sectors to be developed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
On the other hand, the world is looking towards Indonesia to contribute more in the fight against climate change. At the 2021 Leaders’ Climate Summit in April, 2021, organized by the Biden administration, President Joko Widodo’s speech on Indonesia’s effort to tackle climate change was met with lukewarm reception with a number of institutions calling the plan not ambitious enough. In June, the UK host to the Cop26 climate summit called on the Indonesian government to submit an improved 2030 climate plan and set out a roadmap for achieving net zero emissions by the middle of the century.
“Every G7 nation has agreed to ambitious 2030 emissions reductions target, the net zero by 2050. But what we need is for everyone to move forward on that, and clearly we need G20 countries, including Indonesia, to move forward,” said Alok Sharma, Cop26 president designate as quoted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, a local non-governmental think tank founded by Dino Patti Djalal, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Indonesia.
The mandatory co-firing of biomass is an intermediate solution to the country’s effort to achieve net zero carbon emission, as well as the nationally stated goal of 23% renewable energy in the energy mix by 2025 and a further 31% by 2050. The other much publicized solution of the country’s ambition to become a global production hub for electric vehicles, is still at least at least a decade away from being realized, and may in fact end up countering each other in terms of policy-making.
As Indonesia is due to take over the rotating presidency of the G20 group of major economies in 2022, there is more political pressure for the country to show leadership in the field of renewable energy. Fortunately, it does not have to look far. Waste-to-Energy efforts have gained traction with various waste-to-energy power plant projects going underway across the archipelago. In Kalimantan, Japanese company SHI successfully delivered a Circulating Fluidized Bed boiler to PT Tanjung Power for an IPP project in 2018. Since the commencement of its operation, it has been one of the country’s most reliable power plants with an availability of more than 98% during the first half of 2020. In Bandung, West Java, German company Euwelle was awarded the project of designing, building and operating the 1,800 tons-per-day (tpd) Regional Waste Management and Final Processing Site. The country’s biomass potential and the interest of foreign investors are there. Indonesia need only to set an example for other countries to follow.